Applying systems engineering to improve the main gas turbine exhaust system maintenance strategy for the CG-47 Ticonderoga Class Cruiser

Abstract

The problem of effectively maintaining surface ships without sacrifice to operational availability and expected service life is receiving considerable attention from Navy leadership. The balance of cost, schedule, and performance parameters associated with ship maintenance is critical to ensure Naval surface force readiness requirements can be achieved within acceptable life-cycle costs. This thesis examines facets of U.S. Navy surface ship maintenance policy including condition-based maintenance and reliability-centered maintenance (RCM). Analysis and recommendations for improvement of the main gas turbine exhaust system maintenance strategy are the focus of this thesis. The analysis recommends a new hybrid approach to RCM. The hybrid RCM concept blends an inspection task with a repair task based on historical failure data analysis. The hybrid preventative maintenance task recognizes and mitigates the interrelated, multidimensional issues associated with ship maintenance. To decompose and cognize the complexities woven into improving a surface ship system maintenance strategy, systems engineering concepts and applications are introduced and demonstrated. The Navy Standard Titanium Centrifugal Pump serves as a reference system to demonstrate the application of functional decomposition, fault tree analysis, and risk assessment. These concepts and applications provide a logical means to identify and manage challenges associated with developing effective system maintenance strategies.